Cutting the mustard in crime fiction - 10 words beginning with M

Here comes a continuation of a meme that I couldn’t resist from Australian writer, Ben Peek.  He started with the letter A and said, "If you'd like to play, leave a comment. I'll give you a letter. Then you post ten words beginning with that letter in your journal and explain why they're important enough to make the cut".  I asked for a letter and promised I’d make all my words crime fiction related.  He gave me the M, plus a caveat – I was not allowed to include the word murder.  Hmm.  Mr Peek and his sense of humour…

So here goes, 10 words beginning with the letter M that are of great import when it comes to crime fiction.

Mortuary (-based crime fiction).

The undoubted queen of this sub genre is Patricia Cornwell.  She invented it when she brought us the excellent Post Mortem back in 1990 and introduced us to her protagonist, forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta.  Since then, Kathy Reichs has added the very successful forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan to the genre.  More lately, the Brits have offered an interesting take on this, with Simon Beckett’s debut novel The Chemistry of Death.  I will feature this book at a later date.

Merciless

Crime fiction very frequently includes a body count to some extent and those committing the killings have to be downright merciless in their approach, modus operandi and belief structure.  You will definitely find the merciless in serial killer thrillers, where human life has no value to the seriously disturbed.  In my mind, the King of the Merciless has to be Thomas Harris’s creation, Hannibal Lecter.  Is there one scene in The Silence of the Lambs where Hannibal is touchy-feely and empathetic?  Does he ever help an old lady cross the road (safely)?  I rest my case.

Mystery

It is important to acknowledge that UK readers read crime fiction whereas our US counterparts read mysteries.  However labelled, crime fiction can include an element of mystery, although this is not necessary.  We may know relatively early on in the story who is responsible for the crime and then the book becomes a page turning and thrilling chase.  At the end, we express a huge sigh of relief and satisfaction, and then move on to the next in the series…  If the book is a mystery per se, we read carefully, enjoying the novel and hunting for clues, at the same time hoping to catch the author out.  But usually it’s the author who catches the reader out with a red herring or shoal of them.  The Shoal King is Andrew Taylor; I’m so looking forward to reading his latest, The Stain on the Silence.

Malfeasance

Those who are committing crimes are pursuing evil conduct and/or performing an illegal deed.  So we can always expect a heavy dollop of malfeasance in our crime fiction reading.  Think of it as a 99 where malfeasance is the great big dollop of ice cream and the rock hard flake sticking out is malice.  Moving on…

Malice

Malice – the quality of threatening evil; feeling a need to see others suffer; spitefulness; venom; cruelty; nastiness.  (So says my great on line friend, hyperdictionary.) For me the great Queen of Malice has to be Minette Walters.  Until 1993, I’d hovered about with my reading and had devoured the novels of the late great Mary Wesley from 1990 onwards.  Then, after 18 months in Canada, I returned to the UK in 1993 and found Minette Walters’s The Scold’s Bridle on the book shop shelves.  I read it and went back to the shop to buy the previous two titles. Subsequent titles have been bought in hard back as I simply could not wait!  I have previously described Walters’s novels as "Mary Wesley with menace" to my friends.  I think the word malice is interchangeable and I will not cheat on including both words in this list.  Malice, menace – Walters does it in spades and extremely well.

Mortal

This is a word that crops up in many crime fiction book titles.  Examples include: Ian Rankin’s Mortal Causes; Andrew Taylor’s The Mortal Sickness (a Lydmouth mystery); John Sandford’s Mortal Prey; Greg Iles’s Mortal Fear; Andrea Badenoch’s Mortal… There’s a good chance of death in a crime fiction novel; so mortal is a key word.

Michael

Michael - as in "Take the Michael/Mickey/Micky", but very seriously this time.  US crime writer, Michael Connelly should always be taken seriously.  His Harry Bosch series novels are smooth, engaging and flowing and that series is not the only product of Connelly’s exquisite imagination and back list.  Last year, Connelly ventured forth with a new character, Mickey Haller, in his novel The Lincoln Lawyer and proved that he can branch out into legal thrillers with exceptionally sturdy saplings.  Haller is one to watch.  Connelly is an author that those in the know have been reading for years.  If you really want to take the micky, I’d suggest you take a Connelly novel on holiday, to bed, in the garden, in the bath, on the train, on the plane.  Oh damnit, take one anywhere you choose to read.

Mo

You can "wait a mo" or you can read Mo Hayder.  With four books to date – Birdman, The Treatment, Tokyo and now Pig Island – Mo Hayder’s writing is something to watch, and very carefully, at that.  This is not an author/woman to pigeon hole.  Indeed, it is impossible when it comes to her books.  Birdman and The Treatment looked set to be the start of a series, but then she went to Tokyo.  Pig Island takes the reader to the quiet and apparently malevolent islands of Scotland. There is, however, one common theme here.  Hayder pushes the boundaries of crime fiction with every book.  She is prepared to go to places no one has gone before and to be ever so blunt and to the point with it.  Pig Island is another book I will feature later.  You can wait a mo, but you can never ignore a book from Mo Hayder, for even just one mo.

Margaret

Well, there’s the late Princess Margaret, there’s my non-princess mother and there’s also Margaret Murphy.  In crime fiction, the Murphy version, as opposed to the movie version, stands out, particularly her novel The Dispossessed.  That book was my most satisfying and engaging read in 2005.  It brought tears to my eyes – such was my emotional investment in the characters and a heart thumping surprise delivered towards the end.  The follow up, Now You See Me is also a splendid read.

Morse

Inspector Morse, the creation of Colin Dexter, cannot be ignored or overlooked when it comes to cutting the mustard in crime fiction.  Beautifully played on our TV screens by the late John Thaw, the character was all enduring until Dexter decided to kill him off.  But, that was a good decision as Morse left our fiction world at the top and not in the decline, unlike some other series characters I could mention that are being flogged to a rather slow and uninteresting death.  Many times copied, no one does it better; there is only one Morse.

...........................................................................................................

I’m all M’ed out now.  I hope I did a reasonable job, Mr Peek.

Comments

[crimeficreader]

Why thank you Mr Peek.

[ben peek]

*applause*

[crimeficreader]

Hi Clare,
What surprised me when writing that was how many other words/names cropped up beginning with "M". For me, the "King of Malfeasance" was the Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont, (as played by John Malkovich in "Dangerous Liasons"). Our wonderful Mal was heavy on the malfeasance as well many other interests, activities and pleasures. And how long ago that film came out! 1988! A classic movie, I think. (With Uma Therman, pre-Quentin Tarantino days, acting the virgin...) Oh, how time moves on.

And there's our wonderful Mal with some Welsh links too; he invested in "The Big Sleep Hotel" in Cardiff - the building, previously a disused property of British Gas Wales, is now a trendy, modern and minimalistic hotel.

I'll go some way with you on Margaret Murphy as the "Queen of M", Clare. I think she's a highly competitive contender. But with Minette Walters and the tartan noir "Mac/Mc" or no "Mac/Mc in the surname" brigade, MM is up against it! What is true is this: some are worthy of great success and do succeed to the level of top ten sales, others fit the former category but need a leg up to achieve the latter to the same extent. I'm always happy to highlight Margaret Murphy's work, as I've found it as engaging, entertaining and page turning as the products of those with a wider audience and top ten hits. MM deserves greater success and the wider berth that comes with that.
Best,
crimeficreader

[Clare]

Great stuff - I learnt a new word (malfeasance) and I hadn't realised before how many authors of crime fiction start with the letter M - Margaret Murphy, of course being the queen of M!